If you’ve been in any office meeting, WhatsApp group, corporate off-site or even a family dinner lately, it’s very likely that you’ve been privy to some discussion on artificial intelligence and how it’s going to change everything. And you must have heard someone say, “AI is going to take all our jobs.”
And then this is usually followed by an afterthought: “Hopefully it will start with my boss.”
Artificial intelligence isn’t new. What’s new is the speed and scale at which it is entering our workplace and our work life. Tasks that once took hours or even days can now be completed in minutes. And because of that, work as we have known it all along is changing – not in a dramatic robot uprising way, but rather quietly, practically, and sometimes uncomfortably.
Before we jump into announcing doomsday predictions for the future, it’s worth acknowledging one important thing: not all work is the same. And AI won’t affect every kind of work equally.
White-collar work: Changing the fastest
Most AI conversations today are about efficiently and quickly completing various kinds of desk jobs, from the endless ‘copy-paste-summarise-repeat’ cycle of documents, reports, presentations, etc., to more sophisticated analysis, to coding and a lot more. In this context, AI is already playing the role of a capable assistant. It can (1) put together a first draft version of an article (not this one, though!) or a report; (2) generate software code; (3) analyse and highlight patterns in data; (4) summarise long documents into bite-sized content; (5) build presentations (not always pretty, but this aspect is improving fast); (6) organise and categorise information systematically; and so on.
Fundamentally, this change implies that the value of office work is shifting. Earlier, it was the effort that was respected; now the focus shifts entirely on the outcome.
And yes, this can also mean that the automatically assumed prestige of white-collar work (and workers) may come into question. For a few decades now, the assumption has been that desk work is safer and offers a higher status (and pay cheque) than physical work. AI may have started the process of rewriting that assumption—not by eliminating jobs overnight, but by changing what desk jobs look like and how quickly some of their relatively mundane tasks can be automated.
Beyond the office: The work AI cannot easily replace
Now here’s where the story gets interesting. While AI can do cognitive tasks impressively, it struggles with the messy, unpredictable, real-world stuff. Think everyday tasks that we all do (or get done) – fixing plumbing, repairing air conditioners, cooking food for 200 wedding guests, handling a confused customer in a kirana store, navigating an Indian street where dogs, scooters, pedestrians, potholes, and cows co-exist and can take an unexpected and unpredictable run, and so on.
These jobs require context, dexterity, improvisation, and social intelligence like things humans do naturally and machines still find extremely difficult to comprehend.
So yes, AI will enter all of these sectors and spaces – agriculture, construction, logistics, retail, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. But mostly as an enhancer, and not as a replacement. The electrician with an AI diagnostic tool becomes more valuable. The farmer using AI-powered crop advisory improves his yield and earns more. The warehouse worker using smart AI robotics becomes faster, safer and more efficient.
So instead of AI replacing non-desk jobs, we may see AI lifting the capability and dignity of hands-on work. And that alone has the potential to hugely change the landscape of the work hierarchy that our society has quietly held for years.
So, what skills become valuable now?
In my view, we’re very quickly moving into a world where two skill types matter.
The first is working with AI. While not everyone needs to become a coder, everyone will need to know how to work with AI and deliver more accurate, more efficient results. People will be expected to use AI tools, guide AI outputs, review and correct results and understand how AI fits into the workflow. This might sound hard, but
If you can track three family WhatsApp groups (even if you ignore most of the everyday forwards!), manage UPI payments, and remember five OTT passwords, I think you’re already capable of learning AI.
The second skill would be that of being human, properly (and how it was probably always meant to be). As machines take over repetitive tasks, skills that used to be categorised as ‘soft’ or ‘supportive’ will now become essential. Think of skills that typically fall under an office training workshop or a coaching session that you might have underprioritised like
judgement, curiosity, empathy, storytelling, leadership, negotiation, creativity, and ethical reasoning. These were once seen as ‘nice to have’. Going forward, they’re the real differentiators.
So where is work heading?
Work is likely to graduate from doing tasks to designing, supervising, improving, and deciding. AI will do the first draft. Humans will do the last mile.
The organisations that thrive will evolve and focus on the differentiators. They will need to invest in people, not just in tools and techniques. They will need to spend time and effort to fundamentally redesign their processes and not simply automate old inefficiencies (or wish them away). And significantly, they will need to embed systems and a culture that encourages experimentation and innovation, be open to failures, and not expect or wait for perfect answers.
The individuals who thrive will be those who lean into human strengths instead of clinging to routine work. They will need to keep learning and be willing to update their skills regularly. They will need to practise using AI daily and make it a habit to leverage AI to derive knowledge and efficiencies. And most importantly, they will need to stay curious.
A simple truth to end on
The future of work isn’t humans versus machines.
I believe this one sentence captures it best: AI won’t replace people — but people who learn to use AI will replace people who don’t.
And if this shift helps us value all forms of work equally – whether at a desk, on a shop floor, in a field, or on the road, then maybe the future isn’t something to fear.
Maybe it’s something to embrace and build.